Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have drawn tremendous attentions due to diverse structures, tunable properties and multi-applications like gas storage, catalysis and magnetism. Recently, there is a rapidly growing interest in developing MOF-based materials for electrochemical energy storage. From the recent progress, MOFs have proved to be particularly suitable for electrochemical application because of the tunable chemical composition that could be designed at molecular level and highly porous framework in which fast mass transportations of the related species are favorable. In this review, we present the recent progress in fabricating MOFs and MOF-derived nanostructures for electrochemical applications. We will sequentially introduce the principle and strategy of designing targeted MOFs followed by a highlight of some MOF-derived novel structures and their potential applications in electrochemical energy storage and conversion. Furthermore, major challenges in the electrochemical energy storage are discussed with prospective solutions in the light of current progress in MOF-based nanostructures.